It has been conventional to make car hoods of two interconnected layers of sheet metal that are quite heavy, which has an obvious weight and cost disadvantage. The automobile industry is constantly looking for cost and weight reduction in these components without penalizing their function. This has heretofore been accomplished by reducing the gauge of the sheet metal used for the panel. If the material is less than a certain thickness, it may be difficult to handle. Moreover, if it is too thin, the panel will be incapable of functioning in the desired manner due to possible deformation and distortions when the panel is opened and closed. It results in particularly making the panel inadequate to function in the localized areas, such as near latches, hinges, or similar hardware attachment areas. Without stiffening up such areas, the panels deform and become misshapen which renders such a construction unacceptable. Of particular concern are the areas where the panel is latched to the front of the car just behind the grill and hinged at its rear to the main car structure. Without proper reinforcement in these areas, the hood will not have sufficient rigidity to adequately resist bending and distortion during opening and closing of the panel.
In a number of situations, the designer has attempted to overcome this problem by using reinforcement assemblies in the areas in question which generally consist of several individually stamped or formed sheet metal parts that are joined together. These designs are relatively heavy and expensive and are not very efficient in performing their function of local reinforcement of the panel and effectively transferring the applied loads to the adjacent structure.